Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked ministers and AL MPs not to exert their influence during the upcoming Upazila parishad elections.

She issued the strict order at a meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Party at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

"Those who disobeyed the party instructions and fielded their family members and relatives in the upazila elections will have to stay with their families in the future. They will not get people's vote," an AL MP present at the meeting quoted Hasina as saying.

The meeting was held with Hasina in the chair.

In her introductory speech, she instructed the party leaders to assist the administration in making the election free, fair and impartial.

Lawmakers' relatives should not have participated in the upazila election, she said and hinted that there will be action against those who defied the party instructions regarding the election.

A source said the PM told the MPs that the local leaders should be given a chance. "It is not good that relatives of MPs will run for posts. If this happens, you will not get votes in the future."

The AL president then asked AL MPs not to make trouble with independent MPs who participated in the national polls with her permission.

Religious Affairs Minister Faridul Haque Khan and lawmakers Salahuddin Miyaji, Mohit Ur Rahman, Draupadi Devi Agarwala, Farzana Sumi, Anima Mukti Gomez and several others spoke at the meeting.